Lead Kotak Life Insurance Repaired)

SUMMER PROJECT REPORT
Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of

Degree of
Master in Management Studies, Mumbai University
ON
“To Study & work with the Channel Marketing Team(Tied Agency) of
Kotak Life Insurance to develop its distribution Channel. ”

A detailed study done in
“Kotak Life Insurance”
Under the guidance of

Mr. Avdhoot Joshi
(Channel Marketing Manager)
Submitted by
Vishal Suri
Roll no -51
Batch 2009 -11
S.I.E.S College of Management Studies

Nerul, Navi Mumbai.
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr. Vishal Suri of SIES College of Management Studies, Navi
Mumbai, working on project “To Study & work with the Channel Marketing
Team(Tied Agency) of Kotak Life Insurance to develop its distribution Channel.” has
successfully completed the project work under our guidance.
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Mr. Avdhoot Joshi Prof. Sumana
Bose
Channel Marketing Manager
Kotak Life Insurance Faculty Guide
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A lot of effort has gone into this training report. My thanks are due to many people
with whom I have been closely associated.
I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my Mentor Mr.
Avhdoot Joshi, Assistant Branch Manager, Kotak Life Insurance, for extending
valuable guidance and encouragement from time to time, without which it would not
have been possible to undertake and complete this project. I am also indebted to Mr.
Prabhu K Mishra, for giving me the opportunity of doing my internship under his
aegis. I am grateful to all the above mentioned individuals for putting their faith in me
to conceptualize the Research Design and be part of crucial projects and for giving us
opportunity to get hands-on Experience in the Life Insurance Sector. At Kotak Life
Insurance.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to Prof. Sumana Bose, SIES College of
Management Studies for being an excellent mentor and helping me whenever I
approached her.
.
I would also like to thank my family for their support and patience throughout
the completion of the project.
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PREFACE
The contours of insurance business have been changing across the globe and the ripple
effects of the same can be observed in the domestic markets as well. An evolving
insurance sector is of vital importance for economic growth. While encouraging
savings habit it also provides a safety net to both enterprises and individuals. The
insurance industry also provides crucial financial intermediation services, transferring
funds from the insured to capital investment, which is critical for continued economic
expansion and growth, simultaneously generating long-term funds for infrastructure
development. In fact investments in infrastructure are ideal for asset-liability matching
for life insurance companies given their long term liability profile. Development of the
insurance sector is necessary to support the structural changes in the economy. Social
security and pension reforms too benefit from a mature insurance industry. The
insurance sector in India, which was opened-up for private participation in the year
1999 has completed seven years in a liberalized environment. Since opening up of the
insurance sector in 1999, 24 private companies have been granted licenses by 31st
March, 2007 to conduct business in life and general insurance. Of the 24, 15 were in
the life insurance and nine (including a standalone health insurance company) in
general insurance. During the last seven years capital amounting to Rs.9625.28 crore
was brought in by the private players, of which the contribution of the foreign partners
has been Rs.2174.28 crore. During this period the average annual growth of first year
premium in the life segment worked out to 47.06 per cent and in the non-life segment it
was 16.87 per cent. The industry services the largest number of life insurance policies
in the world. Yet Indian insurance industry has scope to further expansion with a large
untapped potential.
The Authority and the industry have been playing an active role in increasing
consumer awareness. Insurance companies in general and private insurance companies
in particular, are reaching out to untapped semi-urban and rural areas through
advertisement campaigns and by offering products suitable to meet the specific needs
of the people in these segments.
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The insurers are increasingly introducing innovative products to meet the specific
needs of the prospective policyholders. products, imaginative marketing, and
aggressive distribution enabled fledgling private insurance companies to sign up Indian
customers’ faster belying expectations at the time of opening up of the sector. At the
time of opening up of the sector, life insurance was viewed as a tax saving device. Of
late policyholders’ perspective is slowly changing towards taking insurance cover
irrespective of tax incentives. The insurable populace is looking for products which
suit their specific requirements. As of now a variety of choices are available in the
market meeting the requirements of different cross-sections of the society and across
age groups. With the registration of Bharti Axa Life Insurance Co. Ltd., the number of
companies operating in the life insurance industry has increased to sixteen. The new
entrant commenced underwriting life premium in August, 2006. By end March 2007,
there were sixteen life and sixteen non-life insurance companies (including the national
re-insurer). Apollo DKV, another standalone health insurance company and Future
Generali Insurance Co. Ltd. and Future Generali Indian Life insurance Co. Ltd. were
granted Certificate of Registration in 2007-08 and are in the process of commencing
operations.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Insurance is a federal subject in India and has a history dating back to 1818. Life and
general insurance in India is still a nascent sector with huge potential for various global
players with the life insurance premiums accounting to 2.5% of the country's GDP
while general insurance premiums to 0.65% of India’s GDP. The insurance sector in
India has gone through a number of phases and changes, particularly in the recent years
when the govt. of India in 1999 opened up the insurance sector by allowing private
companies to solicit insurance and also allowing FDI up to 26%. Ever since, the Indian
insurance sector is considered as a booming market with every other global insurance
company wanting to have a lion's share. Currently, the largest life insurance company
in India is still owned by the government.
Insurance in India has its history dating back till 1818, when oriental life insurance
company was started by Europeans in Kolkata to cater to the needs of European
community. Pre-independent era in India saw discrimination among the life of
foreigners and Indians with higher premiums being charged for the latter. It was only
in the year 1870, Bombay mutual life assurance society, the first Indian insurance
company covered Indian lives at normal rates.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, insurance companies started mushrooming up. In
the year 1912, the life insurance companies act, and the provident fund act were passed
to regulate the insurance business. The life insurance companies act, 1912 made it
necessary that the premium rate tables and periodical valuations of companies should
be certified by an actuary. However, the disparage still existed as discrimination
between Indian and foreign companies. The oldest existing insurance company in India
is national insurance company ltd, which was founded in 1906 and is doing business
even today. The insurance industry earlier consisted of only two state insurers: life
insurers i.e. Life insurance corporation of India (LIC) and general insurers i.e. General
insurance corporation of India (GIC). GIC had four subsidiary companies.
With effect from December 2000, these subsidiaries have been de-linked from parent
company and made as independent insurance companies: oriental insurance company
limited, new India assurance company limited, national insurance company limited and
united India insurance company limited. The reforms in the insurance sector leading
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finally to the opening of the insurance sector for private participation have brought in
its wake major changes not only in the design of the products available in the market
but also the manner in which they are marketed. We have today a host of products
coupled with a large number of intermediaries who market them.
The post-liberalized insurance industry panorama in India is witnessing dramatic
changes in terms of a slew of latest products and services, new channels of distribution,
greater use of I.T. as a service facilitator etc. There is also the phenomenon of
noticeable shifts in consumer preferences impacting the product mix being offered by
insurers. The market structure dominated by a few stabilized public sector players and
the 'new' players in the market (some of whom claim their lineage from established
international insurance behemoths) is in a state of flux- in terms of figure out market
shares but is full of potential.
Added to these are the rising trends of convergence of financial services, especially in
the areas like wealth management and evolution of newer risk management tools,
particularly in the context of reinsurance management. Greater attention is also being
bestowed on the areas like Agricultural Insurance and risk coverage of export-import
trade. Then there is impact of visible socio-economic changes like greater urbanization,
greater job mobility, growth of the services industry, weakening of traditional family
structure, impact of globalization etc. All in all, interesting things are happening in the
Indian insurance scene.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
Sr. No.
1. Introduction to the Industry
History of Insurance Sector
Insurance Services
Brief History of Insurance Sector in India
Lead Generation
The Sales and Marketing Relationship
Lead Sources
2. Introduction to the Company
Logo of Kotak Life Insurance
Insurance and myth
Enter Companies
The growing years
Kotak In India
Company Detail
Kotak's story
Products & Services
Kotak Mahindra group of companies
Vision
Analysis of Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance
Life Advisor Profiles for Kotak Life Insurance
SWOT Analysis
3. Research Methodology
a. Title
i. Title Justification
b. Objective
i. Objective One
ii. Objective Two
c. Scope of the Study
d. Significance of the study
e. Research Design
f. Sampling Methodology
g. Limitations
4. Facts and Findings
5. Data Analysis and Interpretation
6. Recommendations
7. Conclusion
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction to the Industry -10
- History of Insurance Sector-11
- Insurance Services-12
- Brief History of Insurance Sector in India-13
- Lead Generation-19
- The Sales and Marketing Relationship-20
- Lead Sources-24
2. Introduction to the Company -26

- Logo of Kotak Life Insurance-27
- Insurance and myth-28
- Enter Companies-28
- The growing years-28
- Kotak In India-31
- Company Detail-31
- Kotak's story-32
- Products & Services-32
- Kotak Mahindra group of companies-32
- Vision-33
- Analysis of Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance-33
- Life Advisor Profiles for Kotak Life Insurance-36
- SWOT Analysis-37
3. Research Methodology-38
a. Title-39
i. Title Justification -39
b. Objective-39
i. Objective One-39
ii. Objective Two -39
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c. Scope of the Study-39
d. Significance of the study -39
e. Research Design-40
f. Sampling Methodology -40
g. Limitations -41
h.Activities carried out-41
4. Facts and Findings-43

5. Data Analysis and Interpretation -54
6. Recommendations-65
7. Conclusion -68
8. Bibliography -71
a. Books-72
b. Internet
i. Sites-72
ii. Search Engines-72
9. Annexure-73
a. Questionnaire-74
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INTRODUCTION
TO THE
INDUSTRY
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HISTORY OF INSURANCE SECTOR
The insurance sector in India has come to a full circle from being an open competitive
market to nationalization and back to a liberalized market again. Tracing the
developments in the Indian insurance sector reveals the 360-degree turn witnessed over
a period of almost 190 years. The business of life insurance in India in its existing form
started in India in the year 1818 with the establishment of the Oriental Life Insurance
Company in Calcutta. Some of the important milestones in the life insurance business
in India are:
• 1912 - The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act enacted as the first statute to
regulate the life insurance business.
• 1928 - The Indian Insurance Companies Act enacted to enable the government
to collect statistical information about both life and non-life insurance businesses.
• 1938 - Earlier legislation consolidated and amended to by the Insurance Act
with the objective of protecting the interests of the insuring public.
• 1956 - 245 Indian and foreign insurers and provident societies taken over by the
central government and nationalized. LIC formed by an Act of Parliament, viz. LIC
Act, 1956, with a capital contribution of Rs. 5 crore from the Government of India.
• The General insurance business in India, on the other hand, can trace its roots to
the Triton Insurance Company Ltd., the first general insurance company established in
the year 1850 in Calcutta by the British.
Some of the important milestones in the general insurance business in India are:
 1907 - The Indian Mercantile Insurance Ltd. set up, the first company to
transact all classes of general insurance business.
 1957 - General Insurance Council, a wing of the Insurance Association of India,
frames a code of conduct for ensuring fair conduct and sound business practices.
 1968 - The Insurance Act amended to regulate investments and set minimum
solvency margins and the Tariff Advisory Committee set up.
 1972 - The General Insurance Business (Nationalization) Act, 1972
nationalized the general insurance business in India with effect from 1st January 1973.
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107 insurers amalgamated and grouped into four companies viz. the National Insurance
Company Ltd., the New India Assurance Company Ltd., the Oriental Insurance
Company Ltd. and the United India Insurance Company Ltd. GIC incorporated as a
company.
INSURANCE SERVICES
Insurance is system by which the losses suffered by a few are spread over many,
exposed to similar risks. Insurance is a protection against financial loss arising on the
happening of an unexpected event. Insurance policy helps in not only mitigating risks
but also provides a financial cushion against adverse financial burdens suffered.
Insurance policies cover the risk of life as well as other assets and valuables such as
home, automobiles, jewellery.
The functions of Insurance can be bifurcated into two parts:
Primary Functions
Secondary Functions
Primary Functions
Provide Protection: The primary function of insurance is to provide protection against
future risk, accidents and uncertainty. Insurance cannot check the happening of the
risk, but can certainly provide for the losses of risk. Insurance is actually a protection
against economic loss, by sharing the risk with others.
Collective Bearing of Risk: Insurance is a device to share the financial loss of few
among many others. Insurance is a mean by which few losses are shared among larger
number of people. All the insured contribute the premiums towards a fund and out of
which the persons exposed to a particular risk is paid.
Assessment of Risk: Insurance determines the probable volume of risk by evaluating
various factors that give rise to risk. Risk is the basis for determining the premium rate
also
Provide Certainty: Insurance is a device, which helps to change from uncertainty to
certainty. Insurance is device whereby the uncertain risks may be made more certain.
Secondary Functions
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Prevention of Losses: Insurance cautions individuals and businessmen to adopt suitable
device to prevent unfortunate consequences of risk by observing safety instructions;
installation of automatic sparkler or alarm systems, etc. Prevention of losses cause
lesser payment to the assured by the insurer and this will encourage for more savings
by way of premium. Reduced rate of premiums stimulate for more business and better
protection to the insured.
Small Capital to cover Larger Risks: Insurance relieves the businessmen from security
investments, by paying small amount of premium against larger risks and uncertainty.
Contributes towards the Development of Larger Industries: Insurance provides
development opportunity to those larger industries having more risks in their setting
up. Even the financial institutions may be prepared to give credit to sick industrial units
which have insured their assets including plant and machinery.
BRIEF HISTORY OF INSURANCE SECTOR IN INDIA

The insurance sector in India has come a full circle from being an open competitive
market to nationalization and back to a liberalized market again. Tracing the
developments in the Indian insurance sector reveals the 360-degree turn witnessed over
a period of almost 190 years. The business of life insurance in India in its existing form
started in India in the year 1818 with the establishment of the Oriental Life Insurance
Company in Calcutta.
The General insurance business in India, on the other hand, can trace its roots to the
Triton Insurance Company Ltd., the first general insurance company established in the
year 1850 in Calcutta by the British. Some of the important milestones in the general
insurance business in India are:
LIFE INSURANCE, INDIA

Life is very fragile and death is a certainty. We cannot control the uncertainties of life.
But, we can cover the risks surrounding us. Life insurance, simply put, is the cover for
the risks that we run during our lives. It protects us from the contingencies that could
affect us.
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Life insurance is not for the person who passes away, it for those who survive. It is the
responsibility of every bread earner to guard against the events that could affect the
family in the unfortunate circumstance of his / her demise. Thus, having a life
insurance policy is very vital. Before going for a life insurance policy it is imperative
that you know about various types of life insurance policies. Major among them are:
Endowment Policy
Whole Life Policy
Term Life Policy
Money-back Policy
Joint Life Policy
Group Insurance Policy
Loan Cover Term Assurance Policy
Pension Plan or Annuities
Unit Linked Insurance Plan
GENERAL INSURANCE, INDIA

General Insurance provides much-needed protection against unforeseen events such as
accidents, illness, fire, burglary et al. Unlike Life Insurance, General Insurance is not
meant to offer returns but is a protection against contingencies. Almost everything that
has a financial value in life and has a probability of getting lost, stolen or damaged, can
be covered through General Insurance policy.
Property (both movable and immovable), vehicle, cash, household goods, health,
dishonesty and also one's liability towards others can be covered under general
insurance policy. Under certain Acts of Parliament, some types of insurance like Motor
Insurance and Public Liability Insurance have been made compulsory.
Major insurance policies that are covered under General Insurance are:
Home Insurance
Health Insurance
Motor Insurance
Travel Insurance
INSURANCE COMPANIES IN INDIA
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Before insurance sector was opened to the private sector Life Insurance Corporation
(LIC) was the only insurance company in India. After the opening up of Insurance
sector in India there has been a glut of insurance companies in India. These companies
have come up with innovative and flexible insurance policies to cater to varying needs
of the individual. Opening up of the Insurance sector has also forced the Lic to tighten
up its belt and deliver better service. All in all it has been a bonanza for the consumer.
Major Life Insurance Companies
 Aviva Life Insurance
 Bajaj Allianz
 Birla Sun Life Insurance
 HDFC Standard Life Insurance
 ICICI Prudential
 ING Vysya
 Kotak Mahindra
 LIC
 Max New York Life Insurance
 Metlife India Insurance
 Reliance Life Insurance
 SBI Life Insurance
 Shriram Life Insurance
 Tata AIG Life Insurance
Insurance in a narrow sense would be ‘an individual or group purchasing health care
coverage in advance by paying a fee called premium.’ In its broader sense, it would be
any arrangement that helps to defer, delay, reduce or altogether avoid payment for
health care incurred by individuals and households. Given the appropriateness of this
definition in the Indian context, this is the definition, we would adopt. The health
insurance market in India is very limited covering about 10% of the total population.
The existing schemes can be categorized as:
(1) Voluntary health insurance schemes or private-for-profit schemes;
(2) Employer-based schemes;
(3) Insurance offered by NGOs / community based health insurance, an
(4) Mandatory health insurance schemes or government run schemes (namely ESIS,
CGHS).
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Voluntary health insurance schemes or private – for – profit schemes
In private insurance, buyers are willing to pay premium to an insurance company that
pools people with similar risks and insures them for health expenses. The key
distinction is that the premiums are set at a level, which provides a profit to third party
and provider institutions. Premiums are based on an assessment of the risk status of the
consumer (or of the group of employees) and the level of benefits provided, rather than
as a proportion of the consumer’s income.
In the public sector, the General Insurance Corporation (GIC) and its four subsidiary
companies (National Insurance Corporation, New India Assurance Company, Oriental
Insurance Company and United Insurance Company) and the Life Insurance
Corporation (LIC) of India provide voluntary insurance schemes. The Life Insurance
Corporation offers Ashadeep Plan II and Jeevan Asha Plan II. The General Insurance
Corporation offers Personal Accident policy, Jan Arogya policy, Raj Rajeshwari
policy, Mediclaim policy, Overseas Mediclaim policy, Cancer Insurance policy,
Bhavishya Arogya policy and Dreaded Disease policy (Srivastava 1999 as quoted in
Bhat R & Malvankar D, 2000) Of the various schemes offered, Mediclaim is the main
product of the GIC. The Medical Insurance Scheme or Mediclaim was introduced in
November 1986 and it covers individuals and groups with persons aged 5 – 80 yrs.
Children (3 months – 5 yrs) are covered with their parents. This scheme provides for
reimbursement of medical expenses (now offers cashless scheme) by an individual
towards hospitalization and domiciliary hospitalization as per the sum insured. There
are exclusions and pre-existing disease clauses. Premiums are calculated based on age
and the sum insured, which in turn varies from Rs 15 000 to Rs 5 00 000. In 1995/96
about half a million Mediclaim policies were issued with about 1.8 million
beneficiaries
(Krause Patrick 2000). The coverage for the year 2000-01 was around 7.2 million.
Another scheme, namely the Jan Arogya Bima policy specifically targets the poor
population groups. It also covers reimbursement of hospitalization costs up to Rs 5 000
annually for an individual premium of Rs 100 a year. The same exclusion mechanisms
apply for this scheme as those under the Mediclaim policy. A family discount of 30%
is granted, but there is no group discount or agent commission. However, like the
Mediclaim, this policy too has had only limited success. The Jan Arogya Bima Scheme
had only covered 400 000 individuals by 1997. The year 1999 marked the beginning of
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a new era for health insurance in the Indian context. With the passing of the Insurance
Regulatory Development Authority Bill (IRDA) the insurance sector was opened to
private and foreign participation, thereby paving the way for the entry of private health
insurance companies. The Bill also facilitated the establishment of an authority to
protect the interests of the insurance holders by regulating, promoting and ensuring
orderly growth of the insurance industry. The bill allows foreign promoters to hold
paid up capital of up to 26 percent in an Indian company and requires them to have a
capital of Rs 100 crore along with a business plan to begin its operations.Currently, a
few companies such as Bajaj Alliance, ICICI, Royal Sundaram, and Cholamandalam
among others are offering health insurance schemes. The nature of schemes offered by
these companies is described briefly.
Bajaj Allianz: Bajaj Alliance offers three health insurance schemes namely, Health
Guard, Critical Illness Policy and Hospital Cash Daily Allowance Policy.
- The Health Guard scheme is available to those aged 5 to 75 years (not allowing entry
for those over 55 years of age), with the sum assured ranging from Rs 100 0000 to 500
000. It offers cashless benefit and medical reimbursement for hospitalization expenses
(preand post-hospitalization) at various hospitals across India (subject to exclusions
and conditions). In case the member opts for hospitals besides the empanelled ones, the
expenses incurred by him are reimbursed within 14 working days from submission of
all the documents. While pre-existing diseases are excluded at the time of taking the
policy, they are covered from the 5th year onwards if the policy is continuously
renewed for four years and the same has been declared while taking the policy for the
first time. Other discounts and benefits like tax exemption, health check-up at end of
four claims free year, etc. can be availed of by the insured. - The Critical Illness policy
pays benefits in case the insured is diagnosed as suffering from any of the listed critical
events and survives for minimum of 30 days from the date of diagnosis. The illnesses
covered include: first heart attack; Coronary artery disease requiring surgery: stroke;
cancer; kidney failure; major organ transplantation; multiple sclerosis; surgery on
aorta; primary pulmonary arterial hypertension, and paralysis. While exclusion clauses
apply, premium rates are competitive and high-sum insurance can be opted for by the
insured. The Hospital Cash Daily Allowance Policy provides cash benefit for each and
every completed day of hospitalization, due to sickness or accident. The amount
payable per day is dependant on the selected scheme. Dependant spouse and children
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(aged 3 months – 21years) can also be covered under the Policy. The benefits payable
to the dependants are linked to that of insured. The Policy pays for a maximum single
hospitalization period of 30 days and an overall hospitalization period of 30/60
completed days per policy period per person regardless of the number of confinements
to hospital/nursing home per policy period.
ICICI Lombard: ICICI Lombard offers Group Health Insurance Policy. This policy is
available to those aged 5 – 80 years, (with children being covered with their parents)
and is given to corporate bodies, institutions, and associations. The sum insured is
minimum Rs 15 000/- and a maximum of Rs 500 000/-. The premium chargeable
depends upon the age of the person and the sum insured selected. A slab wise group
discount is admissible if the group size exceeds 100. The policy covers reimbursement
of hospitalization expenses incurred for diseases contracted or injuries sustained in
India. Medical expenses up to 30 days for Pre-hospitalization and up to 60 days for
post-hospitalization are also admissible. Exclusion clauses apply. Moreover,
favourable claims experience is recognized by discount and conversely, unfavourable
claims experience attracts loading on renewal premium. On payment of additional
premium, the policy can be extended to cover maternity benefits, pre-existing diseases,
and reimbursement of cost of health check-up after four consecutive claims-free years.
Royal Sundaram Group: The Shakthi Health Shield policy offered by the Royal
Sundaram group can be availed by members of the women’s group, their spouses and
dependent children. No age limits apply. The premium for adults aged up to 45 years is
Rs 125 per year, for those aged more than 45 years is Rs 175 per year. Children are
covered at Rs 65 per year. Under this policy, hospital benefits up to Rs 7 000 per
annum can be availed, with a limit per claim of Rs 5 000. Other benefits include
maternity benefit of Rs 3 000 subject to waiting period of nine months after first
enrolment and for first two children only. Exclusion clauses apply (Ranson K & Jowett
M, 2003)
Cholamandalam General Insurance: The benefits offered (in association with the
Paramount Health Care, a re-insurer) in case of an illness or accident resulting in
hospitalization, are cash-free hospitalization in more than 1 400 hospitals across India,
reimbursement of the expenses during pre- hospitalization (60 days prior to
hospitalization) and post- hospitalization (90 days after discharge) stages of treatment.
Over 130 minor surgeries that require less than 24 hours hospitalization under day care
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procedure are also covered. Extra health covers like general health and eye
examination, local ambulance service, hospital daily allowance, and 24 hours
assistance can be availed of Exclusion clauses apply.
LEAD GENRATION
A sale is the pinnacle activity involved in selling products or services in return for
money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity.
The "deal is closed", means the customer has consented to the proposed product or
service by making full or partial payment (as in case of installments) to the seller.
A sale is completed by the seller, the owner of the goods. It starts with consent (or
agreement) to an acquisition or appropriation or request followed by the passing of title
(property or ownership) in the item and the application and due settlement of a price,
the obligation for which arises due to the seller's requirement to pass ownership, being
a price the seller is happy to part with ownership of or any claim upon the item. The
purchaser, though a party to the sale, does not execute the sale, only the seller does
that. To be precise the sale completes prior to the payment and gives rise to the
obligation of payment. If the seller completes the first two above stages (consent and
passing ownership) of the sale prior to settlement of the price the sale is still valid and
gives rise to an obligation to pay.
Sales agents
Agents in the sales process can be defined as representing either side of the sales
process for example:
Sales broker or Seller agency or seller agent
This is a traditional role where the salesperson represents a person or company on the
selling end of the deal.
Buyers broker or Buyer brokerage
This is where the salesperson represents the consumer making the purchase. This is
most often applied in large transactions.
Disclosed dual agent
This is where the salesperson represents both parties in the sale and acts as a mediator
for the transaction. The role of the salesperson here is to over see that both parties
receive an honest and fair deal, and is responsible to both.
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Transaction broker
This is where the salesperson doesn't represent either party, but handles the transaction
only. This is where the seller owes no responsibility to either party getting a fair or
honest deal, just that all of the papers are handled properly.
Sales Outsourcing
This is direct branded representation where the sales reps are recruited, hired, and
managed by an external entity but hold quotas, represent themselves as the brand of the
client, and report all activities (through their own sales management channels) back to
the client. It is akin to a virtual extension of a sales force.
Sales Managers
It is the goal of a qualified and talented sales manager to implement various sales
strategies and management techniques in order to facilitate improved profits and
increased sales volume. They are also responsible for coordinating the sales and
marketing department as well as oversight concerning the fair and honest execution of
the sales process by his agents.
Salespersons
The primary function of professional sales is to generate and close leads, educate
prospects, fill needs and satisfy wants of consumers appropriately, and therefore turn
prospective customers into actual ones. The successful questioning to understand a
customer's goal and requirements relevant to the product, the further creation of a
valuable solution by communicating the necessary information that encourages a buyer
to achieve their goal at an economic cost is the responsibility of the salesperson or the
sales engine (e.g. internet, vending machine etc). A good sales person should never
miss sell or over evaluate the customers requirements.
THE SALES AND MARKETING RELATIONSHIP
Marketing and Sales are very different, but have the same goal. Marketing improves
the selling environment and plays a very important role in sales. If the marketing
department generates a potential customers list, it can be beneficial for sales. The
marketing department's goal is increase the number of interactions between potential
customers and the sales team using promotional techniques such as advertising, sales
promotion, publicity, and public relations, creating new sales channels, or creating new
products (Product Development), among other things. In most large corporations, the
marketing department is structured in a similar fashion to the sales department [citation
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needed] and the managers of these teams must coordinate efforts in order to drive
profits and business success. For example, an "inbound" focused campaign seeks to
drive more customers "through the door" giving the sales department a better chance of
selling their product to the consumer. A good marketing program would address any
potential downsides as well. For example, very often (for legal reasons, e.g. in non-
store retailing) companies have to provide credit to customers. This may cause a
conflict between the sales department on the one hand and the credit department on the
other hand (See Burez & Van den Poel (2007) for potential solutions to this problem.).
A good marketing plan would recognize this problem and address it by, for example,
target marketing where credit risk is minimal.
The Sales department's goal would be to improve the interaction between the customer
and the sales facility or mechanism (example, web site) and/or salesperson. Sales
management would break down the selling process and then increase the effectiveness
of the discreet processes as well as the interaction between processes. For example, in
many out-bound sales environments, the typical process is out bound calling, the sales
pitch, handling objections, opportunity identification, and the close. Each step of the
process has sales-related issues, skills, and training needs as well as marketing
solutions to improve each discrete step, as well as the whole process.
One further common complication of marketing involves the inability to measure
results for a great deal of marketing initiatives. In essence, many marketing and
advertising executives often lose sight of the objective of sales/revenue/profit, as they
focus on establishing a creative/innovative program, without concern for the top or
bottom lines. Such is a fundamental pitfall of marketing for marketing's sake.
SALES LEAD
A sales lead is the identity of a person or entity potentially interested in purchasing a
product or service, and represents the first stage of a sales process. The lead may have
a corporation or business associated (a B2B lead) with the person(s). Sales leads come
from either marketing lead generation processes such as trade shows, direct marketing,
advertising, Internet marketing or from sales person prospecting activities such as cold
calling. For a sales lead to qualify as a sales prospect, or equivalently to move a lead
from the process step sales lead to the process sales prospect, qualification must be
performed and evaluated. Typically this involves identifying by direct interrogation the
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lead's product applicability, availability of funding, and time frame for purchase. This
is also the entry point of a sales tunnel, sales funnel or sales pipeline.
Lead generation efforts are generally focused on identifying and qualifying high grade
selling opportunities for the sales force.
For the most part, lead generation programs do not generate order taking opportunities.
If the prospects are ready to buy, the lead generator might just as well take the first
order there and then.
In reality, sales only take place due to the persuasive ability of a sales rep to win the
new customer and come away with the first order, as the final step in a program of lead
generation, lead nurturing and lead qualification,
The following diagram indicates the 4 levels of sales lead opportunities.
As you move up the pyramid, the cost per opportunity increases and the volume of
opportunities decreases. You could decide only to provide the low hanging fruit to your
sales force. This strategy, however, is rarely practical and could be significantly
counterproductive. In your experience, how many of your qualified prospective
customers were actually waiting for you to call on them to sell your services/products?
Sales conversion rates from opportunities to sale are likely to follow the same
sequence, with Level 1 having the highest conversion rate and Level 4 the lowest.
Management must therefore seek the balancing point where the sales force is most
productive If the lead generation effort is not producing sufficient quantities of highly
qualified opportunities from levels 1 and 2, there may be several reasons.
The best strategy is finding a happy medium? Somewhere in between. However, the
ultimate arbiters are the sales people who will be following up. Unfortunately, it may
be that some of the sales force is part of the problem. To our constant disbelief, many
companies refer the decision of whether or not to continue a lead generation program
to the sales force. When they do this here is what normally happens:
The sales people who are successfully closing business want the program to continue.
Those not closing enough business tend to blame the quality of the leads for their poor
performance.
This suggests that giving the prerogative to the sales force is may not be the best
answer. Because a sales person who is not closing business will almost never admit its
his or her fault, it is invariably, something or someone else. And the finger of failure
often times points at the source of the lead or its quality.
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This is a situation where management ought not to duck its responsibility. If the sales
force is not closing fully qualified opportunities (that meet the specified criteria) then
surely it must be poor performing salespersons who is the problem, not the leads.
Especially when some of the sales force are succeeding and others not. If no sales at all
were being recorded (rare!) you would have a sure fire case against the quality of the
lead generation effort.
Well, first, management needs to be fully aware of the problem. Then it needs to make
strategic decisions.
1. Determine the optimal level you wish to allow that is economically viable and
practical from a sales force productivity standpoint.
2. Non-performers may need some skill training. If this does not help, then other
options should be exercised.
Some time ago, etc started a major project for a Fortune 100 financial services client
with a sales force of 150. They faced the exact situation. The program was enormously
successful in every way for about half the sales force, while the other half were pulling
down the overall result.
Instead of killing the very successful half of the lead generation effort, however, the
company decided to fire about 40% of the poor performing reps. New reps were
employed and trained specifically to support the lead generation effort. Guess what?
our client enjoyed a major success and the client now has in place a comprehensive,
measurable selling operation. They are no longer reliant for their success solely on the
success of the top half of sales people who sold profitably.
The purpose of developing a pipeline of ready to buy opportunities is to build a
measurable, consistent and growing sales operation. In the above example, some of the
sales force had been in place for many years. They had, for the most part, been doing
their own thing. For all intents and purposes they owned the prospect relationships. In
fact, the company often had no idea who the prospects were! In essence, the sales
people were in control of the companies destiny. Worst of all, they were not
accountable!
In the environment that was developed as part of ethic lead generation effort, our client
was now in full control. The flow of opportunities was controlled centrally in a
relational database. Management now had visibility and control of each and every
opportunity. Moreover, they had a complete and accurate view of the activity of its
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sales force. They could now demand that each one of the sales reps be accountable and
report on the progress of each sales opportunity provided to them. And they had a
structure in which to track all of that.
A comprehensive compliance and lead rating system was put in place to check and
verify proper cooperation. Those who performed became part of the permanent sales
team and were hugely successful. Those who did not play by the new rules were
ushered out. The net result? A sales force that was molded into a comprehensive
selling machine with the company in charge of a measurable, accountable, highly
profitable sales operation. Half way through the process, management told us they had
"learned more about their business in the first 6 months of the program than they had
learned in the previous 10 years!" A great compliment and a tribute as much to their
being able to listen and respond effectively, as to the validity of our guidance.
Few managers want to make tough decisions that hurt their employees. We understand
that. Some would rather live with the problem than with the trauma of handing out
those pink slips. In fact, more would rather do this than deal with the real issues.
Nevertheless, if your goal is to maximize the ROI of your customer acquisition efforts,
there’s no escaping tough decisions in business.
Once a qualified lead exists, additional operations may be performed such as
background research on the lead's employer, general market of the lead, contact
information beyond that provided initially or other information useful for contacting
and evaluating a lead for elevation to prospect, the next sales step.
If a sales lead eventually makes a purchase, this is called conversion and a closed sale.
The ratio of sales leads that convert is often referred to as the conversion rate, a way to
measure the effectiveness of a sales process, sales team, or sales person.
Brand marketers also use online lead generation to generate marketing leads.
Marketing leads were introduced to the online lead generation market in 2007. Till
then, a large portion of the online lead generation market was focused on generating
sales leads.
Sales leads are generic leads that are generated on the basis of demographic criteria
such as FICO score, income, age, HHI, etc. These leads are often resold to multiple
advertisers. Sales leads are typically followed up through phone calls by the sales
force. They are commonly found in the mortgage, insurance and finance industries.
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Marketing leads are brand-specific leads generated for a unique advertiser offer. In
contrast to sales leads, marketing leads can only be sold to a unique advertiser.
Marketing leads are generated for a unique brand – Wells Fargo, Coca Cola, etc.
Marketing leads are typically generated for e-newsletter lists, email databases, member
loyalty programs, community sites or for vendor-specific sales efforts. Sales leads are
generated for a particular industry – e.g. Finance, Mortgage, etc.
LEAD SOURCES
Leads can be generated by many different marketing campaigns or can have many
different sources. You can generate leads by mailings (fax, paper, email), fairs and
trade markets, phone (call centers), database marketing and the websites. Leads from
websites are often called web leads.
Great salespeople focus on near-term opportunities and on closing deals. Their success
is in recognizing ripe opportunities when they see them. These same characteristics,
however, can cause them to devalue longer term opportunities or even to cherry-pick
the "hot" leads they somehow conclude are better, even without hard supporting
evidence. So marketing spends many thousands of dollars to generate leads from a
variety of channels and the salesforce follows up on only that segment that falls
quickly to the bottom of the sales opportunity funnel.
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The gap between the leads marketing is generating and the limited number followed up
by the salesforce is your sales opportunity pipeline - an extremely valuable asset. Most
opportunities need to be nurtured to full maturity and contacted cyclically to ensure
that your products and services are top of mind when the need arises. Awareness needs
to be enhanced, interest in your offerings built, and the specific details of each
prospect's pain needs to be detailed, captured, and quantified to support the selling
process.
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INTRODUCTION
TO THE
COMPANY
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LOGO OF THE KOTAK LIFE INSURANCE
Almost 4,500 years ago, in the ancient land of babylonia, traders used to bear risk of
the caravan trade by giving loans that had to be later repaid with interest when the
goods arrived safely. In 2100 bc, the code of hammurabi granted legal status to the
practice.
That, perhaps, was how insurance made its beginning.
Life insurance had its origins in ancient Rome, where citizens formed burial clubs that
would meet the funeral expenses of its members as well as help survivors by making
some payments.
As European civilization progressed, its social institutions and welfare practices also
got more and more refined. With the discovery of new lands, sea routes and the
consequent growth in trade, medieval guilds took it upon themselves to protect their
member traders from loss on account of fire, shipwrecks and the like.
Since most of the trade took place by sea, there was also the fear of pirates. So these
guilds even offered ransom for members held captive by pirates. Burial expenses and
support in times of sickness and poverty were other services offered. Essentially, all
these revolved around the concept of insurance or risk coverage. That's how old these
concepts are, really.
In 1347, in Genoa, European maritime nations entered into the earliest known
insurance contract and decided to accept marine insurance as a practice.
The first step insurance as we know it today owes its existence to 17th century
England. In fact, it began taking shape in 1688 at a rather interesting place called
Lloyd's coffee house in London, where merchants, ship-owners and underwriters met
to discuss and transact business. By the end of the 18th century, Lloyd's had brewed
enough business to become one of the first modern insurance companies.
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Insurance and myth...
Back to the 17th century. In 1693, astronomer edmond halley constructed the first
mortality table to provide a link between the life insurance premium and the average
life spans based on statistical laws of mortality and compound interest. In 1756, Joseph
Dodson reworked the table, linking premium rate to age.
Enter companies...
The first stock companies to get into the business of insurance were chartered in
England in 1720. The year 1735 saw the birth of the first insurance company in the
American colonies in Charleston, sc.
In 1759, the Presbyterian synod of Philadelphia sponsored the first life insurance
corporation in America for the benefit of ministers and their dependents. However, it
was after 1840 that life insurance really took off in a big way. The trigger: reducing
opposition from religious groups.
The growing years...
The 19th century saw huge developments in the field of insurance, with newer products
being devised to meet the growing needs of urbanization and industrialization.
In 1835, the infamous New York fire drew people's attention to the need to provide for
sudden and large losses. Two years later, Massachusetts became the first state to
require companies by law to maintain such reserves. The great Chicago fire of 1871
further emphasized how fires can cause huge losses in densely populated modern
cities. The practice of reinsurance, wherein the risks are spread among several
companies, was devised specifically for such situations.
There were more offshoots of the process of industrialization. In 1897, the British
government passed the workmen's compensation act, which made it mandatory for a
company to insure its employees against industrial accidents. With the advent of the
automobile, public liability insurance, which first made its appearance in the 1880s,
gained importance and acceptance.
In the 19th century, many societies were founded to insure the life and health of their
members, while fraternal orders provided low-cost, members-only insurance.
Even today, such fraternal orders continue to provide insurance coverage to members
as do most labour organizations. Many employers sponsor group insurance policies for
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their employees, providing not just life insurance, but sickness and accident benefits
and old-age pensions. Employees contribute a certain percentage of the premium for
these policies.
In India
Insurance in India can be traced back to the Vedas. For instance, Yogakshema, the
name of life insurance Corporation of India’s corporate headquarters, is derived from
the Rig-Veda. The term suggests that a form of "community insurance" was prevalent
around 1000 BC and practiced by the Aryans.
Burial societies of the kind found in ancient Rome were formed in the Buddhist period
to help families build houses, protect widows and children.
Bombay mutual assurance society, the first Indian life assurance society, was formed in
1870. Other companies like oriental, Bharat and empire of India were also set up in the
1870-90s.
It was during the Swadeshi movement in the early 20th century that insurance
witnessed a big boom in India with several more companies being set up.
As these companies grew, the government began to exercise control on them. The
insurance act was passed in 1912, followed by a detailed and amended insurance act of
1938 that looked into investments, expenditure and management of these companies'
funds.
By the mid-1950s, there were around 170 insurance companies and 80 provident fund
societies in the country's life insurance scene. However, in the absence of regulatory
systems, scams and irregularities were almost a way of life at most of these companies.
As a result, the government decided nationalise the life assurance business in India.
The life insurance corporation of India was set up in 1956 to take over around 250 life
companies.
For years thereafter, insurance remained a monopoly of the public sector. It was only
after seven years of deliberation and debate - after the RN Malhotra committee report
of 1994 became the first serious document calling for the re-opening up of the
insurance sector to private players -- that the sector was finally opened up to private
players in 2001.
The insurance regulatory & development authority, an autonomous insurance regulator
set up in 2000, has extensive powers to oversee the insurance business and regulate in a
manner that will safeguard the interests of the insured.
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Myth 1: Insurance is for tax saving
There's always this rush to buy insurance policies towards the end of the financial year,
making one wonder if the tax-saving purpose of life insurance has not overshadowed
its other roles.
Yes, the tax benefits associated with life insurance policies do help make the
investment more attractive. The public provident fund also offers the 20% tax rebate
under section 88 of the income tax act, 1961, as do small saving schemes like post
office deposits and national savings certificates. You may also avail of tax benefits
under section 80ccc with certain plans. And there are other investment options that
give you higher returns than insurance. But these don't offer you security, the risk
cover that helps you overcome the uncertainties of life. The primary function of life
insurance is to cover you against financial losses arising out of sudden death or
disability. It also offers returns and tax savings. Life insurance, as an instrument, is
hence a good marriage of risk cover, returns and tax benefits.
Myth 2: Insurance does not give good returns
Insurance is different from routine investment options. A fixed deposit or even a
national savings certificate may apparently fetch more returns than a life insurance
policy. But that's not a fair straight-line comparison.
If monetary returns are evaluated in isolation, a Fixed Deposit (FD) offering 9.5%
might look very good in this depressed market. But insurance offers other benefits
along with returns.
Look at security for instance. If you invest in an FD and happen to die, your nominee
can claim only the amount of the FD. If you live, you will get back the sum of the FD
with the desired interest.
Compare this to a life insurance policy. For a sum of Rs 5,000 invested in a FD, you
would get the same amount at the end of the year whereas for a small insurance
premium of say Rs 5,000 per annum, you could buy yourself a cover of around Rs
50,000 to Rs 2 lakhs depending on your age and type of policy. If you happen to die
during the tenure of the policy, your family members would get Rs 50,000 to Rs 2
lakhs as a benefit. In case you live, you will get back the entire sum assured with
maybe a decent return.
Evaluate the two options. For a small "notional loss" in returns, you are running the
risk of leaving your loved ones uncared for if something happened to you. On the other
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hand, with an insurance policy, peace of mind will never be an issue. That’s something
money can seldom buy.
Company detail
Kotak Mahindra is one of India's leading financial conglomerates, offering complete
financial solutions that encompass every sphere of life. From commercial banking, to
stock broking, to mutual funds, to life insurance, to investment banking, the group
caters to the financial needs of individuals and corporate.
The group has a net worth of over Rs 5,997 crore, employs over 20,000 people in its
various businesses and has a distribution network of branches, franchisees,
representative offices and satellite offices across 370 cities and towns in India and
offices in New York, London, San Francisco, Dubai, Mauritius and Singapore. The
group services around 5 million customer accounts.
Our story
The Kotak Mahindra group was born in 1985 as Kotak capital management finance
limited. This company was promoted by Uday Kotak, Sidney a. A. Pinto and Kotak &
company. Industrialists Harish Mahindra and Anand Mahindra took a stake in 1986,
and that's when the company changed its name to Kotak Mahindra finance limited.
Since then it's been a steady and confident journey to growth and success.
➢ 1986 Kotak Mahindra finance limited starts the activity of bill discounting
➢ 1987 Kotak Mahindra finance limited enters the lease and hire purchase market
➢ 1990 the auto finance division is started
➢ 1991 the investment banking division is started. Takes over FICOM, one of
India's largest financial retail marketing networks
➢ 1992 enters the funds syndication sector
➢ 1995 brokerage and distribution businesses incorporated into a separate
company - Kotak securities. Investment banking division incorporated into a separate
company - Kotak Mahindra capital company
➢ 1996 the auto finance business is hived off into a separate company - Kotak
Mahindra prime limited (formerly known as Kotak Mahindra primus limited). Kotak
Mahindra takes a significant stake in ford credit Kotak Mahindra Limited, for
financing ford vehicles. The launch of matrix information services limited marks the
group's entry into information distribution.
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➢ 1998 enters the mutual fund market with the launch of Kotak Mahindra asset
management company.
➢ 2000 Kotak Mahindra ties up with old mutual plc. For the life insurance
business.
➢ Kotak Securities launches its on-line broking site (now
www.kotaksecurities.com). Commencement of private equity activity through setting
up of Kotak Mahindra venture capital fund.
➢ matrix sold to Friday corporation
➢ Launches insurance services
➢ Kotak Mahindra finance ltd. Converts to a commercial bank - the first Indian
company to do so.
➢ Launches India growth fund, a private equity fund.
➢ Kotak group realigns joint venture in ford credit; buys Kotak Mahindra prime
(formerly known as Kotak Mahindra primus limited) and sells ford credit Kotak
Mahindra.
➢ Launches a real estate fund
➢ bought the 25% stake held by Goldman Sachs in Kotak Mahindra capital
company and Kotak Securities
Kotak group products & services
➢ Bank
➢ Credit cards
➢ Life insurance
➢ Mutual fund
➢ Car finance
➢ Securities
➢ Institutional equities
➢ Investment banking
➢ International business
➢ Kotak private equity
➢ Kotak realty fund
KOTAK MAHINDRA GROUP OF COMPANIES
Kotak Mahindra offers pragmatic, world-class solutions. Put simply, solutions with a
lot of common sense; Solutions that take care of every individual’s four basic financial
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needs - Earning, Saving, Investing and Spending i.e. “Helping people to live life in
the complete sense, sans worries”.
The Kotak Mahindra Group
Kotak Mahindra is one of India's leading financial institutions, offering complete
caters to the financial needs of individuals and corporate.
The group has a net worth of over Rs. 2,840 crore, employs around 7,800 people in its
offices in New York, London, Dubai and Mauritius. The Group caters over 1.6 million
customer accounts.
• KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK LTD
• KOTAK MAHINDRA OLD MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE LTD
• KOTAK MAHINDRA CAPITAL COMPANY LTD
• INTERNATIONAL SUBSIDIARIES
• KOTAK MAHINDRA PRIME LTD
• KOTAK SECURITIES LTD
• KOTAK MAHINDRA ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY
THEIR VISION
The Global Indian Financial Services Brand: Their customers will enjoy the
benefits of dealing with a global Indian brand that best understands their needs and
delivers customized pragmatic solutions across multiple platforms. They will be a
world class Indian financial services group. Their technology and best practices will be
benchmarked along international lines while their understanding of customers will be
uniquely Indian. They will be more than a repository of their customer’s savings. We,
the Group, will be a single window to every financial service in a customer's universe.
The most Preferred Employer in Financial Service: A culture of empowerment and
a spirit of enterprise attract bright minds with an entrepreneurial streak to join them and
stay with them. Working with a home-grown, professionally-managed company, which
has partnerships with international leaders, gives their people a perspective that is
universal as well as unique.
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The most trusted financial services company: They endeavor create an ethos of trust
across all their constituents. Adhering to high standards of compliance and corporate
governance is an integral part of building trust.
Value Creation: Value creation rather than size alone is their business driver.
ANALYSIS OF KOTAK MAHINDRA LIFE INSURANCE

Kotak Mahindra is one of India's leading financial conglomerates, offering complete
caters to the diverse financial needs of individuals and corporate.
The group has a net worth of over Rs. 3,380 crore, employs around 12,300 people in its
offices in New York, London, Dubai, Mauritius and Singapore. The Group services
around 2.9 million customer accounts.
In October 2005, Kotak Group acquired the 40% stake in Kotak Prime held by Ford
Credit International (FCI) and FCI acquired the stake in Ford Credit Kotak Mahindra
(FCKM) held by Kotak Group.
In May 2006, Kotak Group bought 25% stake held by Goldman Sachs in Kotak Capital
and Kotak Securities.
Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Limited is a joint venture between Kotak
Mahindra Bank Ltd. and Old Mutual plc. Kotak Life Insurance helps customers to take
important financial decisions at every stage in life by offering them a wide range of
innovative life insurance products, to make them financially independent.
Kotak Life Insurance saw its First Year Premium income jump from Rs 126 cr in
2003-04 to 375 cr in 2004-05, a growth of 198%. This follows a 246% growth in the
previous year.
Kotak Life Insurance is likely to maintain its aggressive growth of infrastructure with
Sales Managers numbers planned to grow from 450 in 2004-05 to 850 in current
financial. Correspondingly, the Life Advisor base of 7000 in 2004-05 is planned to
move up to 12000 by end of this financial. Even the Alternate Distribution Channel
and the Group Insurance Sales Teams has been expanded. However all this shall be
done with them getting more out of the current structure. The important element of
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current year strategy is how they sweat the infrastructure that they have put in place
over the last couple of years. It is imperative that they make their money go longer than
the competition to ensure them breakeven faster. Kotak Life Insurance plans to achieve
this Break Even within the next three years.
Kotak Life Insurance shall continue with its pilot project in Kerala of trying out the All
Full Time Advisor model of Old Mutual, the South African Insurance Major and its JV
partner. This coupled with drives to strengthen presence in high potential states is
Kotak Life’s key steps in increasing Geographical presence. Their belief on segmented
approach towards selecting target markets and segments shall continue and with higher
penetration in states like Tamil Nadu and Punjab they will be able to exploit the
opportunity that the vibrant economy is offering in even smaller towns and rural
markets.
Kotak Group is building a strong financial service offered under the banner of "Think
Investment. Think Kotak." and Kotak Life Insurance lead products, Kotak Safe
Investment Plan II and Kotak Flexi Plan have captured a significant share of the
business. Built around the promise of Capital Guarantee, both these products offer
excellent opportunity for their customers and embody the brand promise perfectly.
Kotak Life builds around the same innovative streak for which Kotak has been famous
in other segments of the financial services earlier. Their offerings in the market are
rated highly by both the distributors as well as the customers. They are committed to
build stronger and better products in the future too.
Kotak Life Insurance is very bullish about its future. Built around the three pillars of
‘stronger leverage,’- group synergies, greater focus on quality execution and innovative
product offerings.
Their challenge will lie in channelising their accumulated learning across the group to
their advantage and building a culture, which encourages performance-linked growth.
Kotak is and shall remain a company that encourages people to take challenges and
build value for all the stakeholders
Kotak Mahindra believes in offering its customers a lifetime of value- A commitment
that has made it a leading financial services group with net worth of around Rs. 1700
crore as well as a market leader in the areas of investment banking and distribution of
financial products.
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The company has raked in new business premium of Rs 160 crore at the end of July
2007, a growth of 46 per cent from Rs 110 crore in the year-ago period
LIFE ADVISOR PROFILES FOR KOTAK LIFE INSURANCE
If you're looking for a profession that allows you to value your independence, turn to
kotak life insurance. Being a life advisor with us allows you to stay independent,
financially as well as in terms of working hours. It gives you a unique opportunity to
positively change peoples' lives by ensuring that they secure their own as well as their
family's future.
Job profile
As a life advisor your role would go beyond selling policies. Your role would be to
explain life insurance and its benefits to potential customers and help them decide
which plan suits them best after analyzing their financial needs. Hence, life insurance
offers you with an opportunity for:
➢ An exciting / challenging career
➢ Flexible work hours.
➢ Unlimited income.
➢ Regular income for years till the policies sold by you are in force.
➢ Support and benefits provided by us
As a life advisor with Kotak life insurance you would enjoy the following benefits:
1. Enriching training program: an intensive training program before you commence
your new career. This would equip you with all the information and knowledge about
life insurance, its benefits and our products. This would help you perform your job
better and meet your goals. You would also enjoy the benefits of continuous training
and mentoring programs that are designed to update you, apart from enhancing your
selling skills.
2. Mentoring: training and support from the company to meet your goals. Opportunity
to learn from industry professionals.
3. Flexibility: decide you own working hours and earning goals.
4. Freedom: continue with your present job occupation if you so desire and treat this as
a parallel source of income. This allows you time to decide if you want to take the job
of a life advisor as a full time activity.
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5. Earnings: entitlement to a percentage of the premium as commission till the time
the policies sold by you are in force.
6. Attractive additional benefits for high-performers: palmtops, planners, leather
portfolio bags, offsite conferences, foreign trips and sales promotional schemes.
Qualifications required
You need to be a graduate. Some other factors that we look for are:
➢ A wide social network
➢ Good interpersonal skills
➢ Desire to meet people
If you are interested and wish to know more about this unique opportunity, please
apply now, so that we can depute a company official to brief and help you pursue this
opportunity.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths:
➢ High employee satisfaction.
➢ High commission as compared to others i.e. 20% - 40%.
➢ Great incentives.
Weakness:
➢ Low marketing strategies.
➢ Low market awareness.
Opportunities:
➢ Huge market potential.
➢ Greater demands.
Threats:
➢ Government policies as under control of I.R.D.A.
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➢ Threats from the competitor’s in the market i.e. Max New York, Reliance,
➢ I .C.I .C .I.
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
(a) Title:
Study & work with the Channel Marketing Team(Tied Agency) of Kotak Life
Insurance to develop its distribution Channel.
i. Title Justification
Keeping in mind the above considerations, the purpose of this project report is to
enable the marketer to understand life advisors needs and maximize their productivity
thorough lead generation taking Kotak Life advisor is not an employ with the
company, as in case of my research. The research is to show that how I have created
the leads of the Life advisor from the market activity or from my personal contacts ie
the no. of people I have made life advisor by telling them about the incentives &
commission which will be given to them by the company if they sell the policy Life
Insurance as a special case. Insurance is a financial tool surrounded with many
misconceptions and hence a life advisor plays a central role to keep customer on track
and create awareness. The thesis will also highlight the problems within the lead
generation factor.
b. Objective
Objective One: To analyze the Lead generation factor for the Kotak Life Insurance
sales advisor;
Objective Two: To analyze and implement the comparative strategy for Lead
generation for increasing sales.
c. Scope of the Study
Insurance industry is growing at a very fast pace. In this cut throat competitive era it is
important for the marketers to design and deliver their services efficiently. Marketer
has to understand the needs of the untapped customers. This thesis will help to
understand the industry with respect to the needs, demands, preferences of the
customer and the products that the company offers to cater to those needs.
d. Significance of the Study
India is a huge, diverse and complex market of which, the insurance sector was opened
for private competition in 2000. Thus, insurers endeavored to segment the market
carefully. Distribution was seen to be the key of success. Regulators were made to
formulate strong and fair guidelines. Private insurers were perceived to have served
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best by a middle-market approach, targeting customer segments that were currently
untapped. Multinational insurers were observed to be keenly interested in emerging
insurance markets.
It was believed that Private insurers would learn and unlearn simultaneously. New
entrants with small share of a large and growing market would be profitable. The new
entrants would be best served by micro-level two pronged strategies. First, by
introducing innovative products; offering a right mix of flexibility/risk/return and
secondly, by targeting specific markets. In a scenario where buyers look for the low
prices, Brand loyalty would be at high risk. Therefore, strong marketing strategies
would be needed. Kotak, being an old player, had huge opportunities awaiting it.
Through the devising of various effective strategies it has made a place for itself in the
insurance industry. New schemes and distribution channels have strengthened its
resolve to be able to better serve its customers and contribute to the industry.
e. Research Design
Data has been collected through one to one interaction and discussion with various
people who are involved in the business of insurance as Sales manager, Life Advisors,
Marketing Manager Customers and others. Newspapers, Internet, Magazines and
Journals would provide ample material about latest trends and practices in insurance
industry. Kotak organizes various outdoor activities to boost its business and brand.
Interaction with customers during such outdoor activities would enable to understand
the success ratio of such kind of outdoor activities. Various products of the company
would be discussed with respect to their benefits and advantages. Various insurance
players would be compared with respect to their market share and products that they
offer.
Primary Data has been collected through discussions, activities and observations of
various people involved in the business whereas
Secondary Data through annual reports of the company, newspaper, magazines,
journals and internet.
f. Sampling Methodology
1. Sampling design is Random Sampling Method
2. Sampling Area would be Mumbai
3. Sample Size: 100 (50 Male and 50 Female)
2
g. Limitations
➢ Only Mumbai region covered for this report because of not availability of time and
resource.
➢ Also for lead generation factor analysis for a company are not sharing more
internal information either on internet or ready to give.
➢ Not many people are keen on interacting and the conversion factor of a lead
converting into an actual advisor is very less.
g. Other Activities Carried Out

➢ In order to generate leads for Life Advisors there were various activities which
were carried out.
➢ A budget was given to us and we were made to think of creative ideas to find
means to interact to people on a personal and one to one basis.
➢ Few of the creative ideas given by us which were implemented are listed below-
• Photograph at McDonald’s- We clicked photographs of people walking in at
McDonald’s with RONALD & asked them for their respective address. Later
we delivered the photograph clicked to their residence. The person carrying the
photograph to their residence explained the benefits of being a life advisor.
• Free PUC checkups conducted in Chembur- We had arranged for a free PUC
(Pollution under Control) checkup for four wheelers as well as two wheelers
(excluding Heavy vehicles & Auto rickshaws). Personal details like address &
phone number were taken at the time of checkup and explanation was given
about the benefits of being a life advisor. If a person showed interested then a
sales manager was sent to his residence for the presentation and further
explanation.
• BMI test at Karmashetra society, Sion-Koliwada- Pamphlets were
distributed to bring about awareness about BODY MASS INDEX TEST a day
prior to the activity day. People were asked for their respective address and
phone numbers while taking the BMI test, so that the report of BMI test could
2
be sent to their places along with a doctor's health prescription. The person
delivering the report was accompanied by a Sales manager from Kotak who
gave the details and the benefits of becoming a life advisor.
• Camp at Sahakari Bhandar, Matunga- It was observed that most Females

visited Sahakari Bhandar between 5pm to 9pm. So a camp was setup during
this period and the best sales managers were present to convince the females
coming in to be a part of our life advisor family.
• Pamphlets distribution in BARC colony- In order to target dependents on

BARC employees we spoke to the local newspaper vendor to put in the
pamphlets along with the newspapers.
In order to make this campaign effective we came up with a 3 day
pamphlet activity.
The first day pamphlet read as follows “Are you saturated sitting
idle at your place watching SAAS BAHU fight?"
The second day pamphlet read “Are you looking out for something
which will keep you busy by choice & also fetches you good money?"
The final one read “Kotak Life Insurance offers you a life time
opportunity to make easy money ".The contact details were mentioned along
with the final pamphlet.
• SMS blast- It was an activity wherein a common SMS was sent simultaneously
to a large number of people. Around 10% of the population reverted to such an
activity.
Thus we used these techniques to promote the life time opportunities
provided by kotak life insurance.. The response was overwhelming and the
activities were well appreciated by the officials at Kotak.
2
FACTS
AND
FINDINGS
1
FACTS AND FINDINGS
1. What is your gender?
Male -
Female –
Gender Survey Result
Male 50%
Female 50%
1
2. What is your Age?
Less than 18 Years-
Between 23-26 Years-
between 21-22 years-
Between 33-45 years-
More than 45 years-
Other -
Grade Survey Result
Less than 18 Years 17%
Between 23-26 Years 16%
Between 26-32 Years 12%
between 21-22 years 28%
Between 33-45 years 8%
More than 45 years 2%
Other 3%
1
3. Choose any one of them in following?
House wives
Professional’s
Business man
Others
Fresh MBA or Graduate (student)
Grade Survey Result
House Wives 20%
Professional 25%
Business Man 0%
Other 15%
Fresh MBA or Graduate (student) 40%
1
4. What is your Educational Qualification?
10th Pass or below 10th –
12th Pass –
Graduate –
Post Graduate or above –
Educational Qualification
10th pass 13
12th Pass 45
Graduate 23
Post Graduate 19
1
5. What is your annual Salary?
Less than 3 lac –
Equal to 3 lac –
3 lac or more –
Annual Salary
Less than 3 Lac 38
Equal to 3 Lac 32
More than 3 lac 30
1
6. What is your Marital Status?
Single –
Married –
Marital Status
Single 77
Married 23
1
7. What is your Tenure in the city?
Less than 3 yrs –
Equal to 3 yrs –
More than 3 yrs –
None –
Tenure in the City

Less than 3 yr 34
Equal to 3 Yr 16
More than 3 Yr 39
None 11
1
8. How many numbers of members are dependent on you?
None –
Less than 3 yrs –
Equal to 3 yrs –
More than 3 yrs –
Dependent Member
Less than 3 13
Equal to 3 45
More than 3 23
None 19
1
9. Do you see clear prospects of your career in life advisor role in Kotak Life Insurance
Company?
Yes –
No –
Survey Result
Yes 56%
No 44%
1
10. What Benefit generally received a life advisor in Kotak Life Insurance.
(a) Incentive (b) Club Membership
(c) Conventional Programme (d) Day Login Gift
(e) Self Employment (f) Product Training
(g) Rewards
Benefit generally received Survey Result

Incentive 25%
Club Membership 13%
Conventional Programme 4%
Day Login Gift 3%
Self Employment 18%
Product Training 12%
Rewards 25%
1
DATA ANALYSIS
AND
INTERPRETATION
2
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Male –
Female –
Interpretation: In our survey we taken 50% Male and 50% Female in the proper
survey format because it gives us insight to the balance survey method because it is the
based out the life advisor need to hire for the Kotak Life Insurance and Lead which
getting from the marketing and other to need to maintain these ratio.

Less than 18 Years-
More than 45 years-
Other -
1
Interpretation: Out of 100 people for our survey 28% people responded that they
serving to Kotak life insurance are in between of 21 to 22 years which is largest in the
pie. Adding to this 17% respondent working with Kotak life insurance is more than of
18+ years which is basically junior management also 16% said they working with
Kotak life insurance is more than with range of 23-26 years.14% respondent said they
working with Kotak life insurance last 33-45 Years. While 8% respondent said they
working with Kotak life insurance more than 45 years
House wives
Professional’s
Business man
Others
Interpretation: Out of 100 people in our survey result here is quite surprisingly result
came that is 20% out of 100people are actually house wife who join Kotak life
Insurance as a life Advisor for there own benefit while 40% are those who Fresh MBA
or Graduate (student) and adding on this 25% are professional who doing this job
because of some other benefits.
2
2
12th Pass –
Graduate –
Interpretation: Almost 45% of the employee who is working after done 12 from the
school while 23% of the employee of the Kotak life Insurance would be an graduate
and the 19% are the post graduate it is very essential to know that lead generation does
not required lot of education knowledge and the specialization to work upon.

Less than 3 lac –
1
Equal to 3 lac –
3 lac or more –
Interpretation: This graph shows that the annual salary pattern among of the
employee and this is quite evident that 38% people suggested that there salary in this
role is less than equal to the 3 lac which is very common in this industry while 32%
people suggested that there salary is equal to the 3 lac while 30% of the employee
suggested that there salary is more than the 3 lac due to of this job.

Single –
Married –
1
Interpretation: This part is very significant to the study because it gives the idea
where is the lead generation is only mint for single person or pocket money earner or it
will more than some thing this 77% of the lead generation are single and 23% are
married in which many of them are house wife which is very good contribution to the
society as well as for the company is.
1
Less than 3 yrs –
Equal to 3 yrs –
More than 3 yrs –
Interpretation: It is very interesting point to know that how is tenure generally has an
individual life advisor in the City like Mumbai it is very important to know that from
the primary data of the 100 lead advisor among of them 39 are said they living in the
same city is more than the 3 yr while 34% of the lead advisor suggested that they are
with this city is more than 3 yrs one of the aspect to know this data is to analyze how
lead advisory play an crucial role for the company.
8. How many number of members are dependent on you?

None –
Less than 3 yrs –
1
Equal to 3 yrs –
More than 3 yrs –
Interpretation: How many family member dependent in you is the basic question we
try to analyze if an person has a three dependant member on him they must focused
towards job and they will to not hesitate to work for long time. According to our
survey result 45% of the people suggested that they have on an average 3 dependent
member while 23% are suggested that they have more than 3 which is vey good sign
for the company
9. Do you see clear prospects of your career in life advisor role in Kotak Life Insurance
Company?
Yes –
No –
1
Interpretation: So far we analyze the lead generation factor how it will affect Kotak
life insurance business now from this question we try and analyze what life advisor
think about there career progression.
Out of 100 people for our survey 56 % people are actually agree that that have clear
prospectus to became a life advisor also 44% people are not very happy with the life
advisor role. Recommendation for Kotak life insurance would be target and analyze the
44% negative area ant build the confidence among the Life advisor.
10 What Benefit generally received a life advisor in Kotak Life Insurance.

(g) Rewards
Interpretation: The benefit is the motivation factor for any lead or for any life advisor
who is working with KOTAK LIFE INSUARNCE , from our survey we trying and
analyze the same thing here what benefits generally life Advisor received 25%
3
respondent says Incentive and Rewards would be the one of the most motivation factor
to working as a life advisor . Also 13% people working because they got Club
membership out of it.
2
RECOMMENDATION
1
RECOMMNEDATION
Kotak Life Insurance is doing well in the market as they have Established Global
Expertise in Product Development & Training ,Better than average Life Advisor
Productivity & 5th Most Recalled Brand but, should still concentrate on improving
their brand image so, as to improve their market share .
SOME OF THE KEY RECOMMENDATION WOULD BE:
➢ For the life advisor and its lead generation Kotak need to focus more in to the
Businessman because now a days due to stiff competition margin of the profit is not
much higher so that segment can Kotak life insurance tap in near future.
➢ Kotak life insurance can focus more to the House wife segment where they are like to
join more and more because of earning and flexible timing.
➢ Kotak life insurance can focus to the life advisor who is working as a part of
organization do a mandatory search for there dependent if they became life advisor like
part time or so that would be a beneficial contribution to the lead generation.
1
1
CONCLUSION
1
CONCLUSION
As a Life Advisor your role would go beyond selling policies. Your role would be to
explain life insurance and its benefits to potential customers and help them decide
which plan suits them best after analyzing their financial needs. Hence, life insurance
offers you with an opportunity for:
An exciting / challenging career.
➢ Flexible work hours.
➢ Unlimited income.
➢ Regular incomes for years till the policies sold by you are in force.
An effective lead-generation strategy is one that not only captures hot leads but also
maximizes the value of more long-term prospects that otherwise would be ignored by
the sales force.
➢ A Businessman making others financially & emotionally secure.
➢ A Licensed representative providing need based advise & service to customer.
➢ An Entrepreneur supported by Company through product ,training & service.
We call this approach Lead Recycling. Lead recycling requires the following changes
in strategy:
• Casting a wider net to include those prospects not actively in purchase mode
• Building a database of both short- and long-term prospects that at minimum have the
specific problem that a company's product or service can solve
• Focusing campaigns and resources on both generating new leads and nurturing
existing prospects
Note that this doesn't require reeducating or refocusing the sales force. Life advisor are
driven by quotas, and no argument short of financial incentive will convince them to
focus on anything but those activities that drive short-term deals. No matter. With lead
recycling in place, sales reps can be fed a constant diet of short-term prospects at the
same time marketing is generating both short- and long-term opportunities at a much
lower cost per sale.
Properly implemented, lead recycling can dramatically improve marketing ROI by:
• Increasing response rates
• Lowering the cost per sale
• Decreasing the number, scale and cost of lead generation campaigns
• Reducing the constant demand from the sales force for new leads
1
The Insurance industry is facing a healthy competition, which really benefits the
public. Government sector should further improve their product varieties and attractive
schemes to compete with the private sector and also change their attitude further
towards service to survive in the market.
Insurance can provide substantial capital for investment in productive assets as well as
protecting those assets against loss by Identifying a managing and transferring the risks
to which their customers are exposed. By helping to generate capital from within India,
a strong competitive Insurance Industry will be an important contributor towards
achieving the country’s economic and social goals.
The opening up of the sector will increase the number of players in the Industry. The
participation of foreign companies in the form of JVs with Indian companies is
expected to bring in their expertise and experience into Industry. The ultimate
beneficiary of this activity would be the consumer who will be given the choice of a
plethora of new products and services. The size of the market will also increase as the
players will make an all – out effort to top potential new segments.
With this view it is important to now move forward and smoothen the entry of the
private players into the industry, and thus give a big push to the Indian economy.
The insurance landscape in India is undergoing major change. Closed to foreign
competition since nationalization in 1956, the life insurance industry had been
protected from competitive pressures. Now, with the re-opening of the sector, several
new players have entered the scene.
The game is old but the rules are new and still developing. Ensconced in a monopoly
run from the nationalization days beginning in 1956, the insurance industry has indeed
awakened: to a deregulated environment in which several private players have
partnered with multinational insurance giants.
1
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1
BIBLIOGRAPHY
a. Books referred to:
1. Gumber A., Kulkarni V. 2000. Health Insurance for Informal Sector: Case Study of
Gujarat. Economic and Political Weekly
2. Dholakia R. Economic reforms: Implications for Health Insurance. Presentation at One
day workshop on 'Health Insurance in India'. Indian Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad.
3. Ellis RP., Alam M, Gupta I. 1996 Health Insurance in India: Prognosis and Prospectus.
Boston University: Boston and Institute of Economic Growth: Mumbai.
b. Internet site referred to:
i. Sites
www.kotak.co.in
www.mykotaklife.com
www.kotaklifeinsurance.com
ii. Search Engines
www.google.com
www.yahoo.com
1
ANNEXURE
1
QUESTIONNAIRE
Male –
Female –
Less than 18 Years-
More than 45 years-
Other -
House wives
Professional’s
Business man
Others
12th Pass –
Graduate –
Less than 3 lac –
Equal to 3 lac –
3 lac or more –
Single –
Married –
Less than 3 yrs –
Equal to 3 yrs –
1
More than 3 yrs –
None –
8. How many number of members are dependent on you?
None –
Less than 3 yrs –
Equal to 3 yrs –
More than 3 yrs –
9. Do you see clear prospects of your career in life advisor role in Kotak Life
Insurance Company?
Yes –
No –
10. Which benefit attracted you to be the life advisor with Kotak Life Insurance?
(g) Rewards

Lead Kotak Life Insurance Repaired)

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SUMMER PROJECT REPORT

Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of

Kotak Life Insurance to develop its distribution Channel. ”

Under the guidance of

S.I.E.S College of Management Studies

Kotak Life Insurance Faculty Guide

2. Introduction to the Company -26

4. Facts and Findings-43

BRIEF HISTORY OF INSURANCE SECTOR IN INDIA

LIFE INSURANCE, INDIA

GENERAL INSURANCE, INDIA

INSURANCE COMPANIES IN INDIA

ANALYSIS OF KOTAK MAHINDRA LIFE INSURANCE

g. Other Activities Carried Out

• Camp at Sahakari Bhandar, Matunga- It was observed that most Females

• Pamphlets distribution in BARC colony- In order to target dependents on

Gender Survey Result

Tenure in the City

Benefit generally received Survey Result

1. What is your Age?

5. What is your annual Salary?

6. What is your Marital Status?

8. How many number of members are dependent on you?

10 What Benefit generally received a life advisor in Kotak Life Insurance.

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